Heather Hantz's son Harrison, 6, who has autism, seen here playing at a pool table, was one of about 128,000 Tennessee kids who lost his state health insurance over the past two years. "When Harrison lost his healthcare, he went through a very stressful period," said his mother, Heather Hantz.(Photo: Saul Young/News Sentinel)

TennCare enrollment data posted online late last week shows that nearly 22,000 kids enrolled in the program in February and another 2,500 kids enrolled in March. This new data replaces older state data showing 52,000 children were cut from TennCare in February. Those figures were later taken offline after officials said they were incorrect.

TennCare questioned by lawmakers

TennCare officials have described the disenrolled children as an expected impact of the government re-starting renewal applications after years of allowing TennCare and CoverKids to swell. The children who have been cut are either no longer eligible or their parents did not complete renewal paperwork mailed sometime in the past three years, but TennCare has been unable to explain how many families were cut purely because they did not respond to paperwork. This uncertainty has led to allegations that at least some kids lost coverage because their renewal paperwork was mailed to incorrect or outdated address.

Gov. Bill Lee said this month he would look into the insurance purge in response to The Tennessean investigation, and lawmakers have questioned TennCare officials about the disenrollment on at least two occasions. During a House committee hearing on Tuesday, Tenncare Director Gabe Roberts defended the cuts as expected in a program where renewals had stopped and later restarted.

“We expected a decrease in enrollment because we have this backlog of people in our program who need to be redetermined, re-verified, but who haven’t been,” Roberts said, adding a moment later: “So yes, it’s true, we have seen a decline in enrollment, but we also cover more people today than we have historically.”

Lawmakers also questioned officials about reports that many families have not been alerted they were cut from TennCare and CoverKids, leaving parents to believe their children have health insurance when they have not. Two Middle Tennessee medical professionals who work exclusively with children told The Tennessean in March that families routinely discover their TennCare has lapsed while in their waiting rooms, and the Tennessee Justice Center – and advocacy group that first raised alarms about disenrollment – has said they’ve heard similar reports from other doctors and families.

When speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, TennCare officials insisted that doesn’t happen. Officials said they were confident the renewal paperwork that is the linchpin to whether or not families keep their coverage is always mailed to the proper address.

“Were there children disenrolled without their parents or guardian’s knowledge?” asked Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, who led the hearing.

“We don’t believe so,” said Kim Hagan, TennCare director of member services. “The re-determination packets were sent to the address of record. And we expect our population to let us know anytime they have moved.”

This confidence echoes a TennCare statement sent to The Tennessean earlier this month that called reports of families losing insurance without notification “a myth.”

TennCare officials also said Tuesday the agency only recently launched a modern computer system to manage applications, renewals and disenrollments.

Roberts, the head of TennCare, said the agency’s prior operations were “rudimentary” but are expected to improve under TennCare Connect, an application portal that is no longer entirely dependent on postal mail. The system was federally mandated in 2014, but did not launch statewide until March.

“We believe that the whole process of both applying and going through redetermination is going to be significantly more user friendly for the people we serve,” Roberts said. “It is actually a 21st century system.”